City Council members must think the city has too many middle-class jobs. Why else push to hike taxes even more on businesses that offer those jobs?

The hike would hit some 1,000 businesses south of 96th Street in Manhattan that each pay rent of over $3 million a year. But it could signal more pain on the way for everyone.

Start with the unlucky 1,000: Their rents average about $100 a foot ($100,000 for a 1,000-square-foot space) for offices and can run as high as $3,000 a foot for retailers. The city already tosses a special “commerical rent tax” on top of that — and the council’s now looking to raise that tax about 8 percent.
Which could sound alarms for all firms.

The 2013 election of a “progressive” mayor raised fears the city’s already-huge tax squeeze would grow still worse. This law would sound the alarm: New York’s new war on business has begun. Steer clear of the city.

True, the bill would scrap the tax for smaller firms, with rents under $500,000 a year. The idea is to recoup those tax losses with the hike on bigger companies.

But no other big city in America imposes such a ludicrous levy.

High rents have already driven away middle-class-job providers, says Kathryn Wylde, of the pro-business Partnership for New York City. Hiking the rent tax “will only accelerate that process.”

She’s right. Ending the tax for smaller firms would be great. But if the council cares about middle-class jobs, it’ll ditch the idea of boosting taxes on the larger ones.